The Family, Australia's notorious cult

Anne Hamilton-Byrne, former leader of The Family sect, has died aged 98.Source:News Limited

Notorious cult leader Anne Hamilton-Byrne has died in Melbourne at the age of 98 after a long struggle with dementia.

Hamilton-Byrne, guru of an infamous cult known as The Family, is reported to have died at an aged care home on Thursday night after entering palliative care in February 2017.

From the 1960s to 1980s, the cult treated children cruelly and violently, bringing them up in virtual isolation from the rest of the world at a base northeast of Melbourne.

Anne Hamilton-Byrne, the infamous guru who led The Family cult, died at an aged care home in Melbourne.Source:News Limited

Sect members stole babies while others were brainwashed into handing over their children to be raised as part of a so-called ‘master race’.Source:News Limited

Members of the sect stole babies while others were brainwashed into handing over their children to Hamilton-Byrne and “aunties” to be raised as part of a so-called master race.

The children reported having their hair dyed platinum blonde and being drugged with LSD, beaten and starved. Hamilton-Byrne proclaimed she was the female reincarnation of Jesus Christ, sent to collect children and raise them as her own to protect them from the impending apocalypse. She preached a combination of Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity.

Former Victoria Police detective Lex De Man, who led investigations into the cult, said he received a number of confirmations on Friday that Hamilton-Byrne had died.

“The normal reaction when you receive the news of the death of someone is one of sadness,” he told AAP. “It’s quite the contrary for me today.

The children reported having their hair dyed platinum blonde, being drugged with LSD, beaten and starved.Source:News Limited

Former Victoria Police detective Lex De Man said it was ‘a great day’ and the cult leader could ‘rot’ for her ‘evil deeds’.Source:Supplied

“Today was a great day in that she is now dead. She can rot.

“The lives that she affected and her evil deeds, I shed no tear. Not one drop.”

Mr De Man said he had spoken to a number of survivors since news broke of her death.

“She left a trail of broken lives, ruined people and the one good thing I’ve seen is that the former children who were victims of some horrible things have moved on with their lives and they’re good people,” he said. “I think of them today and what they went through.”

Mr De Man said Hamilton-Byrne, pictured reuniting with her 'daughter' Dr Sarah Moore, left a trail of broken lives.Source:News Limited

Hamilton-Byrne, who ran the Kia Lama Lodge on the banks of Lake Eildon in Melbourne, fled to USA after allegations of child abuse at the lodge and other properties.Source:News Limited

Victims have attempted to pursue Hamilton-Byrne through the Supreme Court to get justice for the abuse of more than 20 children.

Despite police raids on the Lake Eildon property and a massive investigation, the only penalties ever imposed on Hamilton-Byrne and her husband and sect co-founder Bill Hamilton-Byrne were $5000 fines for falsifying a statutory declaration.

Mr De Man said his one regret was that she never faced justice for more serious crimes.